TEHRAN, 7 November 2005 — An Iraqi passenger plane landed yesterday in Tehran, marking the first time in 25 years that an Iraqi aircraft has touched down at the Iranian capital’s Mehrabad international airport.
Flights had been halted since the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980. “Following bilateral talks with Iraqi officials, the first flight was opened by the Iraqi national airline today at 14:45 pm local time,” the director of public relations department of the state aviation organization, Reza Jafarzadeh, told AFP.
The Boeing 737 from Baghdad carried 65 passengers including Iraqi officials and reporters, he said.
The regular flights from Baghdad to Tehran and vice versa were to start on Nov. 16, when Iraqi airplanes would begin flights on Wednesdays and Fridays, he said.
Iran will also begin flights from Tehran to Baghdad by its national airlines “if Iraqi officials take care of security issues for these flights,” Jafarzadeh added. The Iran-Iraq war broke out in September 1980, and air attacks were launched on Tehran’s international airport shortly after the war began.
Putting the war behind them, Iran and Iraq have already begun some commercial deals, trading oil products and flour. Tehran has also opened a credit line to get exports flowing into its western neighbor.
